NCIS: Apocalypse
by Leroy J
Summary: "Boss! And I quote from Dawn of the Dead, 'shoot it man, shoot it in the head'" That was probably the best movie quote advice Tony had ever given.   The team investigates the mysterious deaths of many naval officers in connection to a neurotoxin.
1. When 13 became 23

**Title: _NCIS: Apocalypse_**

**Rating: T- **for some violent images and swearing

**Author: ncisgranger**

**Disclaimer: **_NCIS isn't mine... I wish it was._

**Summary: **_"Boss! And I quote from Dawn of the Dead, 'shoot it man, shoot it in the head!'" That was probably the best movie quote advice Tony had ever given. | The team investigates the mysterious deaths of many naval officers in connection to a neurotoxin._

**Note: **I really, really wanted to write a 'walking dead' type of storyline for the NCIS team to handle. I had an image of Tony, Ziva and Gibbs as a zombie fighting team and the wheels started turning. If you guys had to pick 3 NCIS members to fight zombies with, who would it be? Thanks to Sean for helping me out during the writing process!

**Enjoy! **

* * *

><p>"<em>Boss! I've seen all of the George Romero flicks! <em>_**And I quote, 'Shoot it, man! Shoot it in the head!'**__" _

"_DiNozzo!"_

"_Gibbs!" Ziva yelled in warning as Gibbs continued to stand his ground. The stumbling, rather unintelligent creature reached out for him. Dried blood crusted around its grey, dead mouth._

_Gibbs fired two shots into its skull after it let out a hissing groan. _

"_Since when did NCIS become a goddamned zombie service?" _

"_Zombies… This is like NCIS of the Dead." Tony, the movie buff, received a Gibbs slap for that one. He couldn't help but try and lighten the mood, even if there were stumbling, zombie like people- or at least what used to be people, wandering around looking a bit bloodthirsty. So the rare times it happened, Tony was thrown into one of his movie fantasies. Yet, this was no fantasy; more of a nightmare than anything. _

* * *

><p><strong>Much Earlier…<strong>

Petty Officer Michael Rodriguez sat droopy headed in the small box he was assigned to. He had been here over his assigned time. He was _supposed_ to have been at home in his own damned bed by 0300. This really was the last fucking time Dan Ramsey screwed him over. The bastard lied. He never set a replacement to take over his watch and check- in-station at the port. So here Michael sat, overworked, pissed off, and hungry. Shaking his head like a type of irritated bulldog, Michael inched his way up on the metal chair he was currently sliding out of. Of course he knew that Dan Ramsey picked him to watch over Lieutenant Ramsey's ship. It was because, as much as he had called the man a bastard inside of his own mind, (the only safe place it seemed when in the Navy), and Michael knew he was one of the best. So he was going to sit here and check in Petty Officers and Seamen the like instead of going home and lying in bed with his fiancé. Didn't mean he had to like it.

As he reached out for his dried up bagel he managed to grab from his house only 12 hours earlier, he heard a loud metal, reverberating sound; as if a part of a ship fell and crashed through a deck from a nearby ship. Instincts kicking in, he jumped up from his tiny box from hell and ran towards the cacophony. He took a tentative glance back toward his own Lieutenant's ship and pursued on, wondering the possible danger that may lie ahead.

As he arrived, several other officers stood around as he joined them in a group of anxious, ready to get-to-business guys. A few men responsible for the ship raced around like scurrying ants.

"What the hell was that?" Michael asked, looking toward the nearest officer.

"Dunno. The boys are checking it out now. It was like a line snapped and a cargo load or something fell into the deck."

"Sounded like a ship tore in half where I was," he said, looking up the hull.

Petty Officer Michael Rodriguez shook hands with the other officers once he knew they had everything taken care of and headed four ships down back to his post. Not looking forward to it again, and knowing that he broke a big rule by leaving the post, he felt off.

Yet, why did he feel off?

He didn't just _feel _off. His instincts were telling him something was really wrong. Michael began to jog the rest of the way back.

He stopped, almost too shocked to keep going.

Petty Officer Sawyer, his good friend, lay on his stomach over the entry way of the ship.

He called out, "Sawyer?"

Nothing.

"Sawyer, you prick, cut it out. Get up. Did you hear that cargo load fall through the deck on...?"

He leaned over and touched his friend's clammy skin. He pulled his fingers back and crimson red painted four phalanges.

"Jesus Christ!" Michael fell backward onto the deck. His pants immediately soaked with blood. With the most gentle of touches, all from fear he knew, he pushed the Petty Officer's body over. Sawyer's eyes, normally a bright blue, bled red from the corners, and some seeped from his open mouth.

His instincts kicked in, whether he wanted them to or not, and Michael Rodriguez crawled away backwards. His breathing heavier than anything he's experienced, his eyes caught sight of the inside of the ship. _Flooding?_ He blinked.

A pool of slowly dancing red had covered the entrance and as far into the ship as he could see.

* * *

><p><em><strong>NCIS Navy Yard: 0700<strong>_

"You know Ziva, you should really be more optimistic. Frowning gives you wrinkles earlier." Tony flashed a smile across his desk at her. Her long, dark hair covered most of her disgruntled face, but Tony knew he was going to be pushing a few buttons this morning.

"Tony, I do not have time for your poking wars! This is not Booking Face."

He let out an overly obvious snort. Sure, he always made a point to fix Ziva's mix-ups, but he loved when she did it… and not just for the reason of poking fun.

"It's called _Facebook_, Ziva. And for your information, I was not poking you anywhere."

Ziva squinted her eyes and got up from her desk in a half attempted fury, possibly for Tony. With a snatch of the stapler and a white flash of paper, she snapped the desk utensil down onto her paperwork. A pressured coil flew out.

Tony laughed, quite heavily in fact. He couldn't believe his luck; bugging Ziva would be very easy this morning.

"You really make mornings worth waking up to, Zeeee-vah."

With a half opened mouth, and a glare that could either seduce… or kill a grizzly bear, Ziva tossed the rest of the worthless plastic utensil in his direction.

Moving faster than he had all week, Tony zipped sideways just in time for it to shatter on the bulletin board behind his head.

"My God. Have you killed a man with a stapler before?" With a face that screamed disbelief, Tony got up out of his chair and dusted himself off, as if he really had survived something.

"How did you know, Tony?" she raised the smallest bit of eyebrow before continuing, "well, he _did _somehow manage to get my weapon away from me so I used the closest object to me."

Suspiciously, Tony asked, "What if the nearest thing was something cute… like a baby or a puppy?" It was more of a matter of statement not question.

Ziva opened her mouth to answer but Gibbs popped in. Tony noticed he didn't have his usual cup of coffee at hand.

"Use the puppy, DiNozzo." Gibbs turned around and glanced quickly at Ziva's desk; the spot where the missing stapler had been. "You're going to replace that stapler, Ziva."

Tony, still thinking about puppies, scrunched his nose as images of thrown puppies buzzed in his mind, and he groaned for a change of subject.

"We have 13 dead officers, all from the same ship. It wasn't on voyage. A Petty Officer stumbled upon them all after checking on a ship nearby, we got the number from his check in log." he stated; Gibbs was all business and no play today.

Tony whistled lowly. "13? Gee, Boss… what an amount for only 0700."

"How did they die?" Ziva asked, wondering if Gibbs was told anything else.

"That's why we were called."

Ziva shook her head at asking such a stupid question; perhaps, she just wasn't on her game today. Yet, Ziva is always on her game.

"Sorry, I…"

Gibbs kept talking, "They were bleeding through the eyes, mouth and ears- said it's a literal blood bath inside that ship."

"You think it's a gas or chemical leak, Boss?" McGee walked into the conversation.

"Where were you, McLatey?" Tony rocked bath and forth on his heels, waiting for Tim McGee to get a type of reprimand from Gibbs. Tampering with McGee was a bit like Gibbs' coffee. He had to have that satisfaction every day.

"I sent him off, stand still DiNozzo before you get yourself sea sick." Gibbs was already gearing up; the rest followed only fractions behind him.

With a small, pleased grin, McGee walked in front of Tony as they left for the elevator. He enjoyed victorious moments over Tony; then again, who didn't?

* * *

><p><em><strong>Lieutenant Ramsey's ship: 0800<strong>_

"You know Jethro, the last time I had seen something so vicious in the ironic sense of the word was back when I had participated in the hunt of…" Ducky began as he gingerly touched the body he studied in front of him.

Gibbs blinked and butted in, "Ducky. 'So vicious in the ironic sense of the _word'_?" Gibbs had 13 dead officers, lying in their own blood. He certainly didn't have time for Ducky's mind teasers this morning.

Ducky leaned back to look into Gibbs' eyes, as if the situation was fairly obvious and that he was surprised Leroy Jethro Gibbs was asking.

"Why yes, Jethro! You see, these people are dead, yes?" A nod from Gibbs and he continued on, "Well, what I see here is gore that one would not even want in a cheap 90s horror picture, let alone in a Navy ship. What I see is no outer physical altercations or even traces of physical weapons being used on these poor chaps…" Ducky glanced at the body to his right and corrected himself. "Oh, yes… my apologies. I cannot forget the ladies as well."

Gibbs observed the area around him. It was indeed horrific. The team walked in here and McGee was the first to run out and puke into the space between ship and ocean. Tony had been about to say something, but once DiNozzo had taken a glance inside, he too took a longer-than-necessary gulp to keep down whatever he had eaten that morning. Gibbs felt angry. What an indecent way to die, whatever that officially was, (for Ducky and Abby to determine of course), but all he knew was that these 13 people had died, all together in a thick coating of each other's blood.

"So they bled to death? All 13 officers mysteriously dropped dead right here, at the same exact time?" There could not be anymore sarcasm painted in Gibbs' voice.

Ducky gave him that friendship grin, for they've been through enough with one another to already have alternative death reasons playing across their minds.

"You see, Duck, my gut's telling me something a bit less mysterious," he nodded at his old friend and moved on to check on his team.

A small, knowing grin from Ducky followed Gibbs to where Ziva and McGee seemed to be having a conversation of _why_.

He fell into Ziva and McGee's exchange. "Well, I am not sure of that McGee, what I do know, or I feel, is that this could be a type of attack. Possibly terrorist."

"Possibly, Ziva?" Gibbs looked deep into her eyes, possibly trying to read her mind.

Ziva swallowed nonchalantly and continued, "Well, yes. Back in Mossad, we had countless threats and attacks from gas and the like."

Gibbs, his brain grinding even more than before, wished he had a cup of coffee; maybe even two. He raised his hand to his temple and rubbed it slowly.

"Boss, since we had to trace the air previously for any type of huge gas threats, there wasn't anything that showed up on the gear, but…"

"But, what Timmy?" Tony strolled over, the DSLR camera swinging lazily in his hand; a light smile dancing on his face.

McGee continued, ignoring Tony. "_BUT_ there were small traces of a type of alkaloid that's commonly found in chocolates, fruits, vegetables in the bits of water sitting around."

"Ah, _Blood & Chocolate_. A young, rather hot, female werewolf must choose between the steamy man she loves and the family secret she's been sworn to keep."

"Shut it, DiNozzo. This isn't a case for movie quotes; it doesn't help anything." A Gibbs glare smacked Tony and he suddenly found interest in taking photos of the crime scene again.

"Well," McGee continued, "it's not necessarily odd. The only odd thing about it is that there isn't really types of food around on this ship that could give off the small amount it did, and be in that general category of an alkaloid."

Gibbs turned his head in light frustration. 13 dead people, and no seeable weapon. The angry looking Lieutenant they spoke with only briefly, 30 minutes before, caught his eye as the man lit up a cigarette just outside the ship. Gibbs tapped Ziva on the shoulder and called out for Tony.

"You two, go ask our steaming Lieutenant over there why he's suddenly so angry."

* * *

><p>Ziva was getting rather annoyed with this chunky man in front of her. He had a short temper, and was rather unpleasant to be around not only because of his personality, but because of his cigarette breath and stained teeth. She was looking directly at the brown, nubby squares when she suddenly noticed his mouth move in the same talking pattern as before.<p>

"I am sorry. What did you say?"

"I said, Miss David, that I want that bastard kicked off. Kicked out! Either way I want that Michael Rodriguez gone!" His skinny lips curled in anger.

"Yes, sir, so we've heard… for the fourth _time_." Tony pinched through his clean, white, straight teeth. Ziva blinked, looking quickly away from Tony's mouth and directed her attention towards Lieutenant Dan Ramsey.

"You said he left his post? Yet, he had a reason to, no? He believed another ship to be in danger." Ziva looked into the man's piggy, dark eyes.

"Hey, that's not his problem. This ship is his problem," an ugly disgruntled sound of pissiness escaped from Ramsey.

Ziva tried the passionate route, this route also included a few bats of the eyelashes; nothing obvious, just enough to calm a man down.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Ramsey, has Petty Officer Michael Rodriguez… done something to you in the past? Perhaps, disobeyed orders…"

"He's a regular man with a regular attitude. Maybe you both should talk to him," Ramsey said, his lips pinched in a painful manner. His face looked like he had something else he wanted to add.

Tony piped up, "Ok, Lieutenant. Is there anyone else you think we should have a chat with?" Tony's eyes slanted a bit, feeling underlining hostility between more than just Petty Officer Rodriguez.

The Lieutenant looked side to side, a shady nervous glance.

"The Commander of course should be questioned about what will happen to this ship next, you see. He is in command of many ships." he swallowed hard, and instantly his face began to change back to being angry. "I want you to question Rodriguez and why he left his post."

With that, the Lieutenant zipped off and away.

Tony continually watched him as he left. He knew that Lieutenant Ramsey was either terrified of his Commander, or he was terrified of letting the Commander know Ramsey didn't trust him.

Ziva gently touched Tony's arm and he blinked.

"A little fishy don't you think?" she whispered quietly.

Tony could still feel Ziva's fingers on his arm, he looked down but they were no longer there.

"Yeah, I just had a thought…" he told Ziva about what he originally came up with about Ramsey and his Commander.

"Well one thing is for certain, we have to talk with Petty Officer Rodriguez."

* * *

><p>Ducky looked at his gloves and frowned. So much wasted life was on his very much alive hands. He felt rather melancholy toward the loss of life in this ship. As Jethro had said, they really did die with a loss of dignity. A sea of blood and an enormous amount of questions have risen out of it. Yet, no answers decided to surface. Ducky felt determined to take these people home and make them comfortable; give them rest, and of course, give them closure. He leaned forward, close to the body's ear.<p>

"Don't worry, my boy. I have a very impressive track record. I will find out what happened to you and your friends." Ducky added quickly, "of course it is never just I who solves these matters. Miss Abigail and the people you've met here are the greatest team you could hope would be solving your misfortunes."

Jimmy Palmer kneeled beside Ducky. "I will help too, Dr. Mallard."

Ducky let out a type of surprised 'Oh!'

"And how can I forget Mr. Palmer! We will take care of you all."

* * *

><p>Tony leaned closer to Ziva's ear and whispered quietly. He could smell white lavender.<p>

"They say he's been all screwy ever since this whole thing happened. Can't get a straight word out of him."

Ziva noticed Tony lingered by her neck longer than necessary and she moved slightly away.

"Well," she said raising a rather seducing eyebrow, "maybe I can give him a go."

Tony's laugh came out more as a short bark.

"Do what you can. No more than necessary, this is a professional atmosphere and…"

Ziva was already gone. Tony jogged ahead to meet her.

"Excuse me, Petty Officer Ramsey, we're NCIS as you know and we have to ask a few, short questions." Ziva flashed a smile at him.

Rodriguez's face changed just in the slightest, he seemed to be paying attention to Ziva.

"Ok… just… just hurry, I can't…"

"Well, did you see anything unusual? Hear anything unusual before you left to check on that ship down there?" she asked.

Rodriguez began twisting his hands together.

"No, that's what I can't figure out. I was supposed to leave at 0300 but the Lieutenant never sent a replacement for me like he said he did- so I had to stay and I- we found out that noise from the other ship was a cable break; sent the whole damned cargo into the ship deck!" Rodriguez spoke quick, bumbled words.

"So you heard _nothing_, saw _nothing_? Is there anything useful you can tell us?" Tony was getting a bit annoyed. Nothing seemed to make sense.

"I was at my post. Then I heard the cargo fall and I raced over there to make sure- I know the Lieutenant wants me out now, he's been after me and I can't fucking stand him anyway and I…"

Tony put his hand out, "Whoa, buddy. Calm down. I understand that it's crazy, and saddening that something like this happened while you were at duty for your Lieutenant. You lost 13 people you knew."

Tony had said something very wrong, and meant _very wrong._ Rodriguez's face turned to the palest of whites. His eyes began to water as if someone had punched the guy in the nose.

"Petty Officer Michael Rodriguez?" Ziva asked, in a calming, small voice.

"13?"

"Yes, sir. 13, it's on the report."

Rodriguez was fast and strong. Tony had not expected to be thrown to the ground so quickly. His red face was only a few inches from Tony's and Rodriguez began to shake him as if there was really nothing to it.

"WHERE ARE THE REST OF THEM, DAMMIT? THERE WERE MORE THAN 13!"

Ziva swooped in for Tony's rescue and plucked Rodriguez up with surprising strength. He began to cry violent tears, streaming down his cheeks. Something was not right in the man's head.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?" Ziva asked. She half shook Rodriguez, hoping to make him cooperate.

"Don't make her angry or anxious, she'll…"

With an action of surrender, Rodriguez slid to the ground in a useless heap of tears and bumbled sentences that didn't make sense. He lifted his pitiful face up and looked Ziva in the eyes. They were sad, pitiful, and hurt… but if anything, fear was the most obvious.

"I didn't sign in 10 others on my log; if you're checking my log for people, it's wrong. I- there were _23_ people on the ship. That's impossible, how-… They were there when I left and when I got back after checking the ship. I counted them all. _23 GODDAMNED DEAD NAVY OFFICERS!_"

Tony and Ziva both gaped at each other, there was no possible way something had happened to those 10 other bodies. The log had said 13 in Rodriguez's slanted scripture, and there were 13 inside the ship. What had they done, got up and walked off?

* * *

><p><strong>So, fellow friends and NCIS lovers- <em>If you had to pick 3 members of the NCIS team to fight some zombies with... who would it be? My pick is: Tony, Ziva, and Gibbs. <em>**

_I also really appreciate any feedback, friends. It helps me get going on writing new and better material for you all. So, please leave comments or whatever you'd like for me to read!_

**ncisgranger******


	2. Something Out of the Ordinary

**Title: _NCIS: Apocalypse_**

**Rating: T- images, language, etc.**

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own NCIS... boo_

**Summary: **_"Boss! And I quote from Dawn of the Dead, 'shoot it man, shoot it in the head!'" That was probably the best movie quote advice Tony had ever given. | The team investigates the mysterious deaths of many naval officers in connection to a neurotoxin._

**Note: **I am going on vacation for about 9/10 days, so I wanted to be a good friend and leave you guys with the second chapter before I left for the beach! So... you're welcome :) Also, thanks to the ones who left reviews and added this as a favorite/alert. I honestly loved the reviwes and thoroughly read each one. I loved who you picked for your personal NCIS zombie fighting team as well; I felt like Ziva was a top character... good choice.

_So, can you guys leave me some comments/questions/reviews for me to read on my lonnnnggg drive down to South Carolina? I like them all and they're extremely appreciated! _**I'm serious, you should see my face when I'm reading reviews it's a cross between :3 + :D (with appreciative tears).**

_Enjoy it, and tell me whatcha' think!  
><em>

* * *

><p><em><strong>Previously: 13 officers are discovered dead on a ship in a sea of blood. Later, the number of officers turns out to be 23, so the team questioned a Lieutenant Ramsey and Rodriguez on what had happened.<strong>**  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><em><strong>NAVY YARD: Director Vance's Office: 1000 hrs<strong>_

"I've got 13 dead Navy Officers in my morgue downstairs. Not only does that disturb me, Gibbs, but the fact that an additional 10 other bodies have mysteriously vanished from sight is something to keep me up at night. You also do not know what caused these people to _bleed _from their eyes, mouth, and nose."

Vance glared at Gibbs.

Gibbs himself wasn't feeling too great after coming back from the crime scene. It made him just as angry as it made Vance. He sharply turned on his heel and left Vance to deal with what he had to.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Abby's Lab: 1000 hrs<strong>_

Abby typed away furiously on her machine. McGee had explained the situation to her and it was still reeling in her mind which made her determined more than ever to figure out what happened to those poor souls. She was glad he was here. She could depend on him, not as much as she could depend on herself, but McGee would do for now.

In the lab, Abby had been able to dissect and figure out exactly what type of alkaloids had been present on the ship. It seemed to be the only thing they had. Well, that and McGee had been able to get the security tapes from the security camera just in view of a nearby small parking area for vehicles and only the smallest bit of Commander Ramsey's ship. She had initially been frustrated that it was at a very poor angle, and did not allow her to see anything inside the ship by any means. Yet, nothing to Abby was impossible.

Gibbs walked in much too early for Abby's liking. She frantically looked around her work area to see if she could find something and show him. If he walked in without her calling him, she knew this case hit some sensitive area in him.

"Looking like that isn't going to make a clue pop up, Abs." he looked at her for a moment and continued. "Although, I'd like to hear that you and McGee have something for me."

McGee spoke up first. "Yeah, Boss. We were able to figure out what alkaloids were present on the ship…"

Gibbs shook his head, "Ok, McGee. Remind me… what is an alkaloid?'

Abby spoke up, rather excited to be helpful. "Well you know the whole rule that dogs and cats are not allowed to have chocolate?" Gibbs nodded. "Ok, well you see that is because it has a type of alkaloid in it that ruins their bodies from the inside out. Pretty much theobromine, which is found from the same compound as caffeine, which makes me sad because I love caffeine and dogs and cats, but not together obviously…"

"_Abs."_

"Oh, right, sorry. Well, this theobromine petty much makes the dog's heart explode. Not really, or exactly explode, but I'm trying to work in Gibbs terms for your convenience."

Gibbs couldn't help but picture officers dying by chocolate, and blood somehow flooding a ship.

"I doubt these men were poisoned by chocolate," Gibbs said, rather doubtful.

McGee butted in, "No, that's impossible. Unless all of the officers ate 22 pounds of chocolate each, though that would make them die of blood sugar issues before a ruined heart or bowel."

Abby frowned heavily at McGee. "Hey, McGee! That was _my_ line."

"Sorry, Abs."

Gibbs rolled his neck, getting anxious.

"Anyway, the other alkaloids themselves are the types that can either destroy a heart, ruin a bowel, and definitely slow and shut down a person's bodily functions. Brain, heart, lungs, nervous system; you name it. The thing we can't figure out is that this compound that was found at the site isn't exactly the same as chocolate or other poisonous plants. It's a compound that has been tampered with, not necessarily by natural means. Which is bad, Gibbs."

Gibbs breathed in deeply. A tampered-with-compound not from nature can only mean a certain thing. He'd rather not think about it, but he knew himself too well and he already was.

McGee added more detail sensing Gibbs uncertainty.

"Think of it as a neurotoxin. A neurotoxin causes allergies. You know how there's always that one kid who is severely allergic to peanuts and if he ever ate nuts, he'd _pretty much_ die? This looks like the same situation; a severe allergic reaction to the point of bleeding eyes, bleeding mouth, bleeding ears. Maybe even a destroyed inner-body. The very bad thing is, Boss… we don't know _what _neurotoxin because we haven't seen a version like this before."

Gibbs' eyes involuntarily widened. Something Abby did not recognize seeped into this case. He would say he was beginning to worry, but that would be an understatement. He turned around and headed for the one place he hoped had some type of answer waiting for him. He heard Abby mention something about security tapes and he stopped for the shortest time.

"Get to it to work and…" he decided he should add, "keep up the good work."

Gibbs walked out of Abby's lab a bit more nervous than he had come in; he wanted a cup of coffee.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Ducky's Morgue<strong>_

He had just gotten off the tele-communicater with Abby from her lab, learning of an 'undiscovered' neurotoxin. Ducky already figured that the bloody noses, mouths, and ears were from that extreme allergic reaction. He thanked Abby kindly and continued on with his work.

Ducky had most of his tables in use today. He'd rather it not be that way, but he was glad the guests were not in the pool of blood any longer.

"Mr. Palmer… where is all the time we wish we had? These young people, I assure you, did not expect to die today. One moment you are doing as you are told, living your life you had so desperately wanted to try and live, yet not quite meeting all the requirements you had wished you did, and suddenly you are lying in blood; not only your own, but the people you had to work with for many years."

Jimmy Palmer tried to answer with something pleasing for Ducky's conversation.

"Er, well… I find it ironic. When you put it that way."

"Ah, just as I had told Jethro. You know Mr. Palmer," he said as he began to saw away the ribs near the sternum of the cadaver, "sometimes the most mysterious cases are the ones that are really never as mysterious as man had originally thought. We tend to make things more complicated than necessary…"

Ducky stopped as he heavily observed inside that chest cavity. This was something he was glad to see, not of course, that these people had died horrifically, but that he was suddenly beginning to gather clues to help them be put to rest.

"Mr. Palmer. Could you kindly join me over here and take a look at the pericardial sac?" Ducky moved just the slightest bit over so his younger comrade could take a look.

"All the blood… it was definitely ruptured rather violently."

"Yes," Ducky said in a drawn-out matter. "What else Mr. Palmer?"

"Well, with the way it looks, I'd say it had swollen to the point of tearing… causing internal bleeding, resulting in their death, yes?"

"Now, now… let us wait until we check the rest of Mr. Petty Officer Sawyer before coming to those conclusions."

Ducky felt a bit better, but not enough to make him feel as if he had solved their deaths. He heard the doors open and he knew exactly who it'd be.

"Jethro, we've been expecting you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Duck."

Gibbs' eyes and mouth did not smile; he was here for business, not play. So maybe, Ducky thought, he'd try to keep perfectly on point.

"We have looked inside Mr. Sawyer here and it looks as though his pericardial sac had swollen to disturbing proportions, resulting in a horrible tear and had resulted in extensive internal bleeding."

"From a neurotoxin that nobody exactly knows about; a giant allergic reaction."

"Been studying up I see?" Ducky nodded to himself and looked back at the other 12 just waiting for him.

Gibbs' face tensed up, even more than usual and he got closer to his old friend.

"I want more answers. There are 10 bodies missing, Ducky and I can't figure out for the life of me, how 10 dead people got up and walked on out of a ship."

"So they walked now, Jethro?" Ducky gave a short smile.

Gibbs gave a small, very sharp nod to the left, indicating he had no idea in hell what happened to them.

"They ruled out body snatchers, or whatever you'd like to call them. So that's the only stupid explanation we have, they got up and went home. I want that to change Ducky, the sooner the better. I have 23 families calling wondering when they can plan funerals. I have a ship yard on my ass wondering when they can resume operations and get these navy officers home. I've got a mysterious _neurotoxin _that is slowly looking like a bioweapon that nobody can officially identify!"

Ducky's mouth gaped a bit. When Gibbs admitted to something so serious aloud, it must really be what he says. Yet, Ducky needed to keep his friend calm. Gibbs needed to have a clear head, he knows asking Gibbs to be patient would be like asking a starving dog to quit begging; it was rather impossible and pointless… not to mention dangerous.

"I know you will not listen to me, but I request that you calm down, Jethro. Getting yourself worked up is never beneficial. I would not like you to have a ruptured pericardial sac like our friend Petty Officer Sawyer here." Ducky would have gripped his friend's shoulder if it weren't for the indecent gloves he had on.

Gibbs stared Ducky in the eyes and he knew that they were both not going to buy into it. Ducky was just as curious and just as anxious as Gibbs. Probably, both not as frustrated, but it was frustrating nonetheless.

* * *

><p><em><strong>SQUAD ROOM: Tony's desk<strong>_

Ziva sat on the edge of Tony's desk. Her mind was wandering in different directions.

"You think that Rodriguez had not seen anything at all?" she asked, curious of Tony's opinion, since they both had seen him go insane in a matter of 20 seconds.

"Nobody acts like that if they were covering up for someone, if that's what you were thinking. You saw Rodriguez, squirming around on the concrete sobbing like a baby. He has some serious damage done to his mental well being."

Ziva added, "Well the man had counted 23 bodies inside of the ship, and now these 10 MIA bodies are indeed MIA. And another Officer down the ways had heard Rodriguez screaming and he too, remembered counting 23, just in case if they were asked. That's two men counting 23 bodies."

"You don't think their statements were tampered, seeing as they were together before anybody could respond?" Tony began to tap his pencil on his desk nervously. It helped him think.

"I do not believe so, since the other officer had left to get help, as Rodriguez was too paralyzed and felt the need to stay with them, I'm sure." Ziva frowned. She didn't remember anything in her Mossad past, or even history, of bodies vanishing. So, that could mean only one thing… It was quite obvious really: they had not vanished at all.

"Hey, Ziva?" Tony suddenly sat straight up in his desk, a thought coming to him.

"You have an idea…"

"Well, obviously." He ignored Ziva's death stare and continued, "We should have that chat with the big scary Commander that Ramsey was afraid to talk about. Maybe, go give our Commander a visit?"

"Get on it, Tony and Ziva." Gibbs went straight to his desk, and only gave them a split second of eye contact.

"On it, Boss."

They grabbed their gear and headed out, hoping for more answers to this mystery.

* * *

><p><em><strong>COMMANDER RICHARD F. NYSON'S HOUSE: 1100 hrs<strong>_

The whole car ride to Commander Nyson's house, Ziva and Tony sat pretty quietly. There wasn't any of the regular banter and there weren't any comments to fill the empty , Ziva's mind began to wander and when she stole a glance over at Tony, he looked like a man who was married. His buttoned blue shirt and grey work pants, his whole person just reminded Ziva of a successful husband. Even his face for once, not sarcastic or fake or joking, just calm, focused on the job at hand… but he wasn't serious looking, just mentally occupied. She found herself stealing a look at Tony's left hand, and immediately wished to smack herself in the forehead. The words slipped out before she could stop them.

"Have you ever wanted to get married and raise a family?"

She tried her best to act casual, as if she wasn't just thinking about this a little bit ago, as if she wasn't just thinking about _him_ a minute ago.

Tony's face lit up in the slightest and Ziva waited for a smart comment.

"Why, Ziva? You interested in heading to a little white chapel before arriving at the Commander's place and naming our children after the grandparents?"

Ziva scoffed, "Oh, never mind."

She still wanted to know, but it wasn't going to be her that caved first. She watched him in her peripheral vision, and to her delight Tony bit his lip and she knew he was going to be the first who spoke again.

"Well," Tony began, a bit uncomfortably, "it's not like I _haven't _ever considered… that before…I just…well what about you assassin princess? Have you thought about having little ninjas before with a mediocre office working husband with a lisp?"

She let out a sly chuckle.

"Is that what my husband is, Tony? Mediocre with a lisp? What about your wife? A Playboy rabbit with fake breasts and a blond head who doesn't even know how to parent the children."

Tony said, "You obviously don't know my wife very well, Ziva. You would know that she is a Playboy Bunny, not _rabbit. _At least she doesn't teach her children how to use a knife at age 3 and who else knows what…"

"HA! At least my daughter will be showing everyone who is boss, while yours is learning how to wear a bikini."

Tony hit the brakes suddenly and they came to a halt on the empty neighborhood street.

"Don't you talk about my daughter that way, Ziva. It's not my fault her mother wasn't you…" Tony's eyes widened and he added, "I mean…that's not. I…" he looked beyond Ziva's smug face at the mailbox. "Well, looks like we're actually here so let's not keep the Commander waiting."

He leapt from the driver's side door and was already around the front of the car by the time Ziva had her seatbelt undone. She was still chuckling to herself. She got what she wanted from him, and that was probably enough for the day.

It had been about 30 minutes before Commander Richard F. Nyson, at least that's what the decorations in his house liked to remind you, had actually begun to answer their questions. His skinny, red haired wife, Janet Nyson brought around some iced tea for Tony and Ziva. Ziva of course, never trusted drinks from another person so she just gave the woman a smile that was more of an intimidating attempt to be polite.

"So, you've been working for NCIS a long time?"

Tony gave him a forced smile, "Mhm. We're wondering about the ships, sir…"

"They're all beauteous things. Yet, what a tragic and horrible thing that had happened. 13 dead men, all just…"

"Yes, it is quite tragic, but Commander Nyson there were actually 23 dead soldiers. Rodriguez had not filled in the other 10 like he was supposed to, he and another officer had counted 23 dead bodies at the scene," Ziva tried to keep the man on topic. He had done this a few times already.

"Listen, I know you both have important things to do. I have important things to do…"

"What can you tell us about Lieutenant Ramsey?"

Nyson's face instantly became darker. He rubbed his palms together and looked up at his smiling, doting wife.

"Darling, would you please allow us to have a few minutes?" He nodded and looked toward the swinging kitchen door.

She obeyed and left the room.

"Ramsey. Always been an angry drunk bastard. Now, I'm not going to insult your intelligence. I know you are going to go back to NCIS and check out my file. On that file you will find that Lieutenant Ramsey and I had a bit of a scuffle a few years back. Nothing too serious but enough to go onto our records."

"And now he is working under you?" Ziva asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, well… funny how things work out. Anyway, we only interact when business needs to be done. I call him an angry drunk bastard; he'd probably call me a rich son of a bitch with a stick up in the wrong place." Nyson leaned back leisurely and gave Ziva a bright smile. His teeth were white, his appearance clean, and his salt and pepper hair was perfectly taken care of. He had on a wedding ring, and another ring Ziva couldn't fully identify at this distance, it was large and had a dark colored stone in the middle.

Nyson noticed Ziva looking at his hands and he slowly moved them inside the pockets of his jacket.

* * *

><p><em><strong>ABBY'S LAB: 1300 hrs<strong>_

"It was really horrible, Abby." McGee frowned at the memory of puking into the water once he saw the inside of the ship.

"Awe, McGee… I can't even imagine." Abby stopped what she was doing on her computer and stuck her arms out in an odd fashion.

McGee stared at her.

"What are you doing?"

Abby kept on smiling.

"Waiting for you to get into this hug of love!" She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his torso, breathing in his smell. He smelled like paper and his cologne. Before she knew it, she had her eyes closed.

"Uh, Abby?" McGee asked carefully.

"Hmm? Oh, right. Let's get back to work, McGee. Come on, what are we made of? Let's figure this out!" Abby went right back to the computer, clicking away like a maniac, her eyes squeezed in concentration and McGee found himself grinning in her direction.

"McGee… you're staring at me." Abby's eyes shifted in his direction and a little grin formed in the corner of her mouth.

McGee fumbled on his words, this was awkward.

"Er, I… well…"

Abby looked back at her computer and smiled.

"I think I was finally able to clear up this security footage, McGee. We know that a black-ish looking car pulls up in this teeny-tiny space about here at around the same time as when the cargo load falls through the deck on that other ship."

McGee added, "Well, the only frustrating thing…"

"Is what, McGee?" It was Gibbs.

He strolled into Abby's lab with the familiar beverage Caf-Pow at hand. Abby reached for it with clenching hands and Gibbs raised an eyebrow. He wasn't going to let her have it that easily.

"Well, what do you have for me first, Abs?"

"You're hard to bargain with, ok, I see how you do things, Gibbs." She nodded at him and rushed to the security video at her pc.

"You see, we were able to clean up most of the grain and fix everything so we could actually see something and what we have is a black-ish looking car pulling up at about 5:45 am."

Gibbs said, "At around the same time as the cargo load crashing through that deck on the other ship."

"Oh, you're good," she smiled at Gibbs and continued, "Ok, we can't see the people or person who exists the vehicle, but what we can see is the bumper of the car, and it looks like there is a sticker on it of some sort."

"I can't see anything, Abs," Gibbs leaned in comically close to the screen.

"Uh, here, Boss…" McGee got hold of Abby's keyboard and plunked in a few things, and the video became closer and a bit clearer. "It's right about here, you can't see a license plate, it's hidden by this horribly convenient dumb pole, probably knew where they were parking and what the camera would see."

"So, this had to be somebody who knew this place extremely well." Gibbs' brain was churning out puzzle pieces by the second.

"Yep. I can even get you this bumper sticker in about… 2 minutes."

"If you do that, you can have this Caf-Pow."

Abby looked more determined than ever and typed away like a madwoman on her keyboard. The footage slowly, but surely became easier to see as Abby performed her magic. She zoomed in on the bumper sticker and bam. There it was.

"That's a bumper sticker I've seen on cars of doctors, boss." McGee said, recognizing the blue and white bumper sticker.

"You know where I've seen that bumper sticker, McGee? That's the type of bumper sticker from corporations; probably that car itself is a corporation car."

"Do you know what corporation, Gibbs?" Abby asked.

"I have a pretty good idea. Get me a print, Abby; and McGee… get DiNozzo down here to identify that car."

Gibbs turned to leave but a surprisingly firm grip was around his left elbow. He turned back around and held out the Caf-Pow for Abby.

"My apologies."

"Apology accepted!" She happily slugged a gulp down and smiled at him.

* * *

><p>About 5 minutes later, Tony rushed from the elevator and greeted Gibbs.<p>

"Hey, Boss… that car is a 2009 BMW 6 Series Coupe. Pretty hot. Pretty expensive." Tony was grinning about the car still when Gibbs roped him in with another question.

"What can you tell me about Commander Nyson?"

Gibbs wanted to know about this guy, and how everything seemed to be in his power. Either Ramsey really was a rotten fish, or… he was always made to be rotten.

"Commander Nyson and our buddy Lieutenant Ramsey had a little quarrel back in the day, Nyson said it was nothing serious, but it was serious enough to be put on their records."

Gibbs added, "Then they end up working together… funny how that works out." Gibbs looked at the screen with both Nyson's haughty face and Ramsey's serious demeanor side-by-side.

"You think they're working together or something, Boss?"

"I'm not sure yet, Tony. Why don't we figure that out?" His phone rang and he answered it quickly. "It's Abby, she has something on that bumper sticker. DiNozzo, I want you and Ziva to go back down to Rodriguez's house. I know he's a bumbling mess, but if there were extreme issues between Commander Nyson and Lieutenant Ramsey he would know." He began towards the elevator on a mission; he called back to Tony and Ziva. "If any of you see something out of the ordinary, you call me immediately."

* * *

><p><strong>So, there you have it. <strong>I know you're all smart readers and I know you KNOW what foreshadowing is. Tony... might have to make that call.

**QUESTION TIME: **Would you guys like to see more- _tiva _Tony/Ziva moments, Ducky moments, or _McAbby_ moments? I like writing them all, but if I may be so... strong and say I love writing tiva snippets. I also love Ducky. What do you guys think you'll see/ what would you like to see? (Some of you may have already spoken previously, but I love hearing you all talk to me so...)

Love me and review. Review if you love cats, tiva, McAbby, or Ducky, or Palmer, or Gibbs.

Thank you all!

_Cassie_


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